Litigation tactics employed by a frequent filer of copyright infringement suits faced heavy criticism in a new ruling (PDF at link) by a federal judge in New Jersey.
Prejudice to defendants and the administration of justice outweigh the interest of plaintiff Strike 3 Holdings in obtaining expedited discovery in a group of piracy suits against John Doe defendants, U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Schneider of the District of New Jersey ruled Oct. 24. Although expedited discovery has been granted to Strike 3 and other repeat copyright litigants in the past, new case law has been published and the court has learned of new material information that was not previously presented, Schneider said.
Expedited discovery has been granted under prior cases with similar circumstances, but parties filing those cases should know they can no longer expect business as usual, Schneider said.
The court “sees no reason why it should be consciously wrong today because it was unconsciously wrong yesterday,” Schneider said.
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